Ukraine took the game to Sweden from the off, proving adept on the ball. Tymoshchuk and Nazarenko took a calm control of midfield, trying to feed the front players of Ukraine. Sweden remained solid and doubled up on the talented Ukrainian widemen, Konoplyanka and Yarmolenko, crowding out the space. Ukraine couldn’t quite switch the play quick enough, and despite the best efforts of Voronin and Shevchenko to add bodies in wide areas, Ukraine kept hitting a solid Swedish wall.

The scale of Milan’s task having to face Barcelona in the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League was evident from the day they were drawn together with arguably the strongest club side ever assembled in the history of football. Several weeks later, Milan now have to grapple with declining odds against a new and potentially deadlier opponent: the injury crisis that has struck Milanello, threatening to derail everything good they have achieved this season.